Harken Laser Radial Nationals at WPNSA

The 2011 Radial Nationals was hosted by WPNSA, the venue for the 2012 Olympics, and therefore unsurprisingly featured a strong international contingent, despite being late in the year (many international sailors have spent most of the last three months in Weymouth training and doing Sail for Gold and the Olympic test event regattas). Therefore the standard was exceptionally high.

Total entries were just below the 150 mark (perhaps because the championship was held in the last week of August which is school time for those living north of the border and very close to the start of term for the rest of us). As a result, racing was split into two groups for the first four days, then into Gold and Silver for the final two days, with the intention to race out in the bay as much as possible.

Day one and World ranked number one Evi Van Acker from Belgium started with a bang with a win and a fourth, enjoying the strong westerly wind of a race course that she is now more than used to. Acker finished second overall at the Olympic test event to Marit Bowmeester who was having a week off (she actually came out to watch some of the racing) before returning to training the following week, although her brother raced the standard rig with the two top Dutch sailors pushing hard for the title.

Veronika Fenclova from the Czech republic also had a good first day, but perhaps it was too good, being one of the fifty people who got black flagged, meaning she had a BLF and a second. In fact the international sailors contingent dominated with the top three places, a trend that would follow all week. However Andrea Brewster and Ross Harvey did manage to take a race win.

Bank Holiday Monday and the wind decided to have a little rest, although not a lot! Ross Harvey had a great day with a 1,2 but the internationals continued to dominate. It was a difficult day with sailors playing snakes and ladders with their positions, where you could be two boat lengths from someone but in completely different wind.

Tuesday turned out to be a rest day (just like they have at the Olympics) where the wind failed to show completely (hopefully something that will not happen at the Olympics).

On the final day of the round robin series three races were scheduled with the easterly wind proving difficult to judge as it was coming off the land. This was a day which made or broke the event for many people. Acker came out of the blocks firing, scoring a 1,1,6 although Jon Emmett was the more consistent with a 2,3,2. However unfortunately this was the last time that Van Acker raced. Feeling under the weather on the Thursday, she decided to pull out and fly home early.

The penultimate day was another three racer, but this time in finals. With a weak forecast for the final day it seemed sensible to make the most of the conditions and that is exactly what happened. The standard was now that much higher with not a single person managing three good races! Sam Vandormael showed the best speed, winning two out of three races (but failing to make the top ten) with fellow Belgian Jeroen Belis having the best day counting two thirds. Hannah Snellgrove did her bit for the Brits to take the other race win.

So it really was a mixed championship. The final day was again in light winds, and a three o’clock cut off meant that to get the race in it had to be sailed in the harbour. However the gods were on our side and we managed the final race just before the fog rolled in (like something out of a Stephen King novel).

A tussle on the start line for the Championships saw Fenclova come off the worst allowing Belis to get away. In the end Fenclova finished in the late forties, unable to recover from the bad start, but she still finished a very comfortable second overall and first Lady by a large margin. A third overall from Belis was more than enough to give him the event.

The international sailors really dominated, with the tussle for third between Slap and Emmett. Emmett led Slap around the first windward mark but Slap was just in front of Emmett round the second. Down the final run Slap went right with Emmett left. When the pressure filled in Slap moved to a comfortable win with Emmett dropping to sixth, to lose third overall by one point. Slap also finished first Youth.

So International sailors filled the podium, with Top Brit Emmett winning the National title for the fifth time. First master (and indeed Grand Master) was Ann Keates who had a great final race leading for much of it, although eventually dropping to fifth. Top Junior was Henry Wetherell who if he continues to grow at his current rate will surely be in the Standard rig before too long! The 2012 Championships will be held at Abersoch in July.

Laser racing for the Radials starts again in the form of the World and European Qualifier series which kicks off on the last weekend of September at Highcliffe before travelling to Hayling Island and Paignton in October.